Pandemic Sparks Innovation At N.H.'s Influential Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest

The decades of research at the Hubbard Brook Experimental forest was interrupted in 2020 by the pandemic.  In a New Hampshire Public Radio story, Professor Matt Ayres talks about adapting new technology to record the sounds of the forest by setting up recorders to run on their own.

Of particular interest is recording migratory birds as they return in early spring.  Professor Dick Holmes has studied songbirds at Hubbard Brook for more than 50 years and recently began taking audio samples.  This fall Professor Ayres set up the recorders to begin recording forest sounds automatically on April 15th, well before the recorders may be accessible to researchers for monitoring.  Climate change has resulted in earlier springs in New Hampshire.  Understanding the impacts of an earlier spring/shorter winter on migratory birds may shed light on how such changes affect the whole ecosystem.

For the full NHPR story please visit: https://www.nhpr.org/post/pandemic-sparks-innovation-nh-s-influential-hubbard-brook-experimental-forest#stream/0

Photograph by Eli Burakian, Dartmouth College.